System and method for managing compliance with retail display regulations across a plurality of jurisdictions

ABSTRACT

Compliance with retail display regulations that retailers are subject to within a plurality of jurisdictions is managed. Retail display regulations may differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. To facilitate compliance, retail display regulations for a plurality of jurisdictions are centrally maintained. The regulations may then be used to dynamically generate retail display materials for locations across a plurality of jurisdictions with different regulatory schemes. The central storage and/or maintenance of the retail display regulations may facilitate compliance with disparate regulatory schemes that retailers are subject to based in part of retail location. Central storage of the retail display regulations may facilitate certification of compliance by regulating entities associated with the jurisdictions.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to implementing centralized storage of retaildisplay regulations for a plurality of different jurisdictions toenhance compliance of retailers with stores in a plurality of differentjurisdictions to the appropriate retail display regulations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Retail display materials provide information to consumers at the pointof display. Such materials may include, for example, price labelsapplied to a shelf, pegboard, or other display apparatus, price labelsapplied directly to products, signage (e.g., conveying price and/or “onsale” status), and/or other retail display materials. The informationprovided via retail display materials may include, for example, productidentification, price, unit price, and/or other information. Retaildisplay materials are regulated in North America, and throughout theworld. However, regulation of retail display materials can vary fromjurisdiction to jurisdiction. As such, retailers having stores or otherretail locations in more than one jurisdiction may not be able to printretail display materials in a single format. Instead, a plurality ofdifferent formats may be required to satisfy the various localregulatory schemes. Changes to individual regulatory schemes, andcertification requirements in a plurality of different jurisdictions maypresent additional costs and/or concerns for retailers with locations ina plurality of different jurisdictions.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the invention relates to management of compliance withretail display regulations that retailers are subject to within aplurality of jurisdictions. Retail display regulations may differ fromjurisdiction to jurisdiction. To facilitate compliance, retail displayregulations for a plurality of jurisdictions are centrally maintained.The regulations may then be used to dynamically generate retail displaymaterials for locations across a plurality of jurisdictions withdifferent regulatory schemes. The central storage and/or maintenance ofthe retail display regulations may facilitate compliance with disparateregulatory schemes that retailers are subject to based in part of retaillocation. Central storage of the retail display regulations mayfacilitate certification of compliance by regulating entities associatedwith the jurisdictions.

As used herein, “retail display materials” may refer to price labelsapplied to a shelf, pegboard, or other display apparatus, price labelsapplied directly to products, and/or signage (e.g., conveying priceand/or “on sale” status). This is not intended to be limiting, as“retail display materials” may include one or more other materialsand/or media used to convey information to consumers about products(e.g., price, unit price, regular price, reduced or sale price, productdetails, a product identifier such as a UPC/GTIN/SKU identifier, and/orother information at the point of display). As used herein, the term“retail display regulation” may refer to a price label regulationregulating one or more parameters of price labels, a signage regulationregulating one or more parameters of retail display signage, and/or asale regulation regulating one or more parameters of an “on sale” statusof a product and/or the display thereof. This is not intended to belimiting, and a retail display regulation may refer to one or more othertypes of regulations that regulate one or more parameters of retaildisplay materials. As used herein, the term “regulations” refers notonly to affirmative requirements and/or restrictions, but allowances andexceptions to requirements and/or restrictions.

In one embodiment, a system configured to manage compliance with retaildisplay regulations comprises electronic storage and one or moreprocessors. The electronic storage comprises electronic storage mediathat electronically stores information. The information stored to theelectronic storage may include one or more of retail displayregulations, jurisdiction information, product information, retailerinformation, store information, location information, certificationinformation, and/or other information related to the retail displayregulations and/or compliance therewith.

The retail display regulations may regulate one or more parameters ofretail display materials. By way of non-limiting example, a retaildisplay parameter may include one or more of a shelf level requirement,a retail display material background color restriction, a retail displaymaterial space allowance, a product description requirement (e.g., font,size, point size, color, and/or other requirements), a retail pricelisting requirement (e.g., text type, font, size, point size, color,and/or other requirements), a unit price listing requirement (e.g., texttype, font, uniformity, rounding and/or calculations, ratio to price,and/or other regulations), a unit of measurement requirement (font,size, weights and measure types, and/or other requirements), aUPC/GTIN/SKU requirement (e.g., placement, font, point size, and/orother requirements), a sale and/or reduced price requirement (e.g.,start and end dates, font, format, size, and/or other requirements),and/or other parameters.

Retail Display regulations may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.As such, at one location, retail display materials may be governed by afirst set of retail display regulations, while at a second locationsretail display materials may be governed by a second set of retaildisplay regulations. The jurisdictions may be associated with one ormore of a town or city, a county, a state or province, a country, and/orother jurisdictions.

In some instances, the jurisdictions may be layered. For example, at agiven location at least one retail display regulation enforced at thegiven location may be enforced by a regulating entity associated with acountry (e.g., the U.S., Mexico, Canada, etc.) in which the givenlocation resides, at least one retail display regulation may be enforcedby a regulating entity associated with state or province within whichthe given location resides, and/or at least one retail displayregulation may be enforced by a regulating entity associated with acounty or city within which the given location resides.

The retail display regulations stored within electronic storage may beorganized according to jurisdiction. This may include indexing orrelating retail display regulations to jurisdictions and/or indexing orrelating jurisdictions to retail display regulations.

To facilitate access of the relevant retail display regulations for agiven location, the jurisdictions may be organized within the electronicstorage according to location. This may include indexing or relating thejurisdictions to one or more reference systems for location (e.g.,postal code, mailing address, longitude/latitude, and/or other referencesystems for location), and/or indexing or relating one or more referencesystems for location against the jurisdictions.

One or more of the retail display regulations may be specific to aproduct, a product-type, and/or a product category. By way ofnon-limiting example, one or more of the retail display regulations maybe specific to the product categories specified by the NationalConference on Weights and Measures. In order to facilitate accessingretail display regulations for a given product, product-type, and/orproduct category, the retail display regulations stored within theelectronic storage may be indexed or related to products (and/orproduct-types, and/or product-classes), and/or products (and/orproduct-types, and/or product-classes) may be indexed or related toretail display regulations.

As will be discussed further below, one or more retailers may providelocation information to the system to facilitate the automatedgeneration of retail display materials, such as price labels, signage,and/or other retail display materials that comply with local retaildisplay regulations. To facilitate accessing retail display regulationsfor a given retailer, one or more locations (e.g., store location(s) forthe given retailer may be stored within the electronic storage.

Various jurisdictions may require retailers displaying retail displaymaterials therein to obtain certification of the retail displaymaterials that they are displaying (and/or formats of the retail displaymaterials). These certifications may require renewal, and/orre-inspection at regular intervals. In some implementations, theelectronic storage may store information related to certification ofretail display materials and/or formats for retail display materials bythe jurisdictions. This information may include, for example,indications as to whether individual jurisdictions requirecertification, a certification renewal interval, an index or relation toone or more specific retail display regulations for which certificationis required, the certification status of a given retailer (or retailstore associated with the given retailer) with respect to a jurisdictionand/or retail display regulation, and/or other information related tocertification.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors may be configured toexecute one or more computer program modules. The one or more computerprogram modules may include one or more of an information maintenancemodule, a regulation request reception module, a regulation requestprocessing module, a retail display material request module, a retaildisplay material definition module, a retail display material generationmodule, a certification module, a reminder module, and/or other modules.

The information maintenance module may be configured to maintain and/ororganize the information stored to the electronic storage. This mayinclude organizing the information within the electronic storage in themanner described herein. In order to maintain and/or organizeinformation the electronic storage, the information maintenance modulemay provide an interface through which retail display regulations,jurisdiction information, certification information, locationinformation, store information, product information, retailerinformation, and/or other information stored to the electronic storagecan be added, amended, indexed and/or related, and/or otherwiseorganized or maintained. This interface may enable one or more users toaccess the information within the electronic storage directly tomanually organize and/or maintain the information. The interface mayenable information to be received electronically to the system (e.g., ina transmission of an electronic file including relevant information),and the information maintenance module may automatically update, enter,remove, index or relate, and/or otherwise organize or maintain theinformation within the electronic storage based on the electronicallyreceived information.

The interface to the electronic storage provided by the informationmaintenance module may for example, enable a system administrator tomanually organize and/or maintain the information. As another example,one or more users associated with one or more of regulating entities ofone or more jurisdictions may access the information within theelectronic storage via the information maintenance module to enterregulations, amend regulations, interact with certification information(for individual retailers, for retail display regulations stored withinthe electronic storage, for retail display materials generated by thesystem, and/or other types of certifications), and/or otherwise organizeand/or maintain information stored in the electronic storage. As yetanother example, the interface provided by the information maintenancemodule may enable one or more users associated with a retailer toorganize and/or maintain information stored within the electronicstorage. For instance, the user may update, enter, remove, and/orotherwise interact with information related to stores, informationrelated to locations at which stores are located, information related toproducts, and/or other information related to the retailer.

The regulation request reception module may be configured to receiveregulation requests. The regulation requests may request retail displayregulations stored within the electronic storage. A given regulationrequest may specify which retail display regulations are requesteddirectly, or the given regulation request may specify which retaildisplay regulations are requested indirectly by indicating displaycircumstances associated with a specific set of one or more retaildisplay regulations. By way of example, the given regulation request mayindicate a jurisdiction, a location, a store, a retailer, a product, apromotion (e.g., a “sale” or “price reduction”), a retail displaymaterials type (e.g., a price label, a sign, and/or other retail displaymaterials types), and/or other circumstances associated with a specificset of retail display regulations. As a more specific (but non-limiting)example, the given regulation request may indicate a requesting aretailer, a relevant store location, and a relevant product.

The regulation request reception module may be configured to receiveregulation requests that are communicated to the one or more processorselectronically (e.g., over a communications network such as the Internetor other networks). In some instances, regulation requests may bereceived by the regulation request reception module from other ones ofthe computer modules.

The regulation request processing module may be configured to processreceived regulation requests. Processing received regulation requestsmay include identifying the retail display regulations requested in agiven regulation request, and obtaining the identified retail displayregulations. The retail display regulations may be identified based ondisplay circumstances indicated in the given regulation request. Therequested retail display regulations may be obtained from the electronicstorage. Upon obtaining the requested retail display regulations, theregulation request processing module may provide access to the obtainedretail display regulations to the requesting entity. If the requestingentity is a regulating entity associated with one or more jurisdictions,providing access to the obtained retail display regulations may includeelectronically transmitting the obtained retail display regulations to acomputing platform associated with the requesting entity. If therequesting entity is one of the computer program modules executed on theone or more processors, providing access to the obtained retail displayregulations may include enabling the requesting module to access theobtained retail display regulations within the electronic storage, orproviding the obtained retail display regulations to the requestingmodule.

As mentioned above, in some implementations, a retailer and/orregulating entity may request access to retail display regulations byissuing a regulation request to the regulation request reception module.In response to such a regulation request, the regulation requestprocessing module may provide access to the requested retail displayregulations in a “raw” form that simply enumerates that requested retaildisplay regulations. However, the regulation request processing modulemay alternatively, or additionally, provide access to the requestedretail display regulations in the form of mock and/or generic retaildisplay materials (or files defining the retail display materials) thatconform to the requested regulations. The mock and/or generic retaildisplay materials may be implemented by the retailer and/or theregulating entity in certification of compliance with retail displayregulations. The mock and/or generic retail display materials (or filesdefining the retail display materials) may include retail displaymaterials that have previously been generated and stored within theelectronic storage as representative of the requested retail displayregulations. The mock and/or generic retail display materials (or filesdefining the retail display materials) may be generated dynamically bythe regulation request processing module in response to the retaildisplay materials request from the retailer and/or the regulatingentity.

The retail display materials request module may be configured to receiveretail display materials requests. The retail display materials requestsrequest generation of one or more retail display materials files thatdefine retail display materials to be displayed in a retail environment.The retail display materials requests may specify one or more displaycircumstances (e.g., a retailer, one or more stores, one or morelocations, one or more products, one or more promotions, a price, aretail display materials type, and/or other display circumstances) inwhich the requested retail display materials will be displayed. Forexample, one or more display circumstances may be specified by one ormore planogram files included in the retail display materials request.The retail display materials request module may receive retail displaymaterials requests from one or more of retailers, one or more ofregulating entities, and/or from other sources.

The retail display materials definition module may be configured togenerate, responsive to retail display materials requests received bythe retail display materials request module, retail display materialsfiles. The generation of retail display materials files in response to agiven retail display materials request may include generating aregulation request to the regulation request reception module for retaildisplay regulations corresponding to the display circumstances indicatedin the given retail display materials request. In response to thegenerated regulation request, the retail display materials definitionmodule may receive access to retail display regulations that correspondto the display circumstances indicated in the retail display materialsrequest (e.g., from the regulation request processing module). Based onthe retail display regulations for which access is received, the retaildisplay materials definition module may generate the requested retaildisplay materials files for the display circumstances indicated in thegiven retail display materials request. These retail display materialsfiles define retail display materials for the display circumstances thatconform to the received retail display regulations (where appropriate).

As will be appreciated, in some implementations, each of the individualretail display materials files generated by the retail display materialsdefinition module may not be subject to all of the retail displayregulations to which the retail display materials definition modulereceives access. By way of non-limiting example, a product-specificretail display regulation may be specific to a subset of productsindicated in the retail display materials request. In this example theretail display materials files generated by the retail display materialsdefinition module for the subset of products conform to theproduct-specific retail display regulation, but retail display materialsfiles generated for products not in the subset of products may notconform to the product-specific retail display regulation. As another(also non-limiting) example, a retail display materials request from aretailer may indicate a plurality of stores located in differentjurisdictions (e.g., a first jurisdiction and a second jurisdiction). Inthis example, the retail display materials definition module may receiveaccess to retail display regulations for all of the jurisdictionsindicated in the retail display materials request, but the retaildisplay materials files generated for the individual stores may conformonly to the retail display regulations for the jurisdiction(s) in whichthey reside.

The retail display materials generation module is configured to generateretail display materials in response to a receipt of a retail displaymaterials request by the retail display materials request module. Thegeneration of retail display materials may include initiation ofproduction of retail display materials on an output device (e.g., aprinting device). The output device may be operatively linked with theretail display materials generation module, or production of the retaildisplay materials on the output device may be initiated by the retaildisplay materials generation module by transmitting instructions forgenerating the retail display materials to a computing platform incontrol of the output device (e.g., if the output device is associatedwith the requesting retailer).

In some implementations, in addition to initiating production of retaildisplay materials on the output device, the retail display materialsgeneration module may provide one or more of the relevant retail displayregulations to the regulating entity or the retailer that issued theretail display materials request to the retail display materials requestmodule. The provision of the relevant retail display regulations withthe initiation of production of the retail display materials may enablethe requesting regulating entity and/or the retailer to ensure that theretail display materials comply with the relevant retail displayregulations, that the relevant retail display regulations are correctand/or current, may facilitate certification of compliance with retaildisplay regulations, and/or may otherwise facilitate use of the retaildisplay materials.

The certification module is configured to manage information related tocertifications related to retail display regulations. Thesecertification may include certifications by the regulating entities withrespect to retail display regulations stored within the electronicstorage, retail display materials (and/or retail display materials filesdefining the same) generated by the system, and/or other blanketcertifications that are based on the system as a whole. Thecertifications may include certifications by the regulating entitiesthat are specific to individual retailers, and/or individual storesassociated with individual retailers.

As was described above, the information maintenance module may enableregulating entities to access, review, enter, edit, and/or otherwiseinteract with retail display regulations stored to the electronicstorage. The regulation request processing module may enable regulatingentities to access retail display regulations stored to the electronicstorage. Based on access to the retail display regulations achieved bythe regulating entities via the information maintenance module and/orthe retail display regulation request processing module, the regulatingentities may certify retail display regulations within the electronicstorage and/or retail display materials generated by the system on thebasis of the stored retail display regulations.

These certifications may provide the retailers with a degree ofconfidence in the retail display materials defined and/or generated bythe system. In some implementations, the certifications may enable theretailers to forego their own certification with one or more ofregulating entities. The certifications may be stored by the electronicstorage, and may be provided to retailers and/or regulating entitiesupon request. For example, the certifications may be provided toretailers along with retail display materials (and/or retail displaymaterials files defining the same) satisfying a retail display materialsrequest.

In some implementations, a given one of the regulating entities mayrequire the retailers to individually certify their retail displaymaterials and/or generic formats for the same. In such implementations,the retailers and/or the given regulating entity may updatecertifications within the electronic storage based on the results of theindividual certifications. These updated certifications may then be used(e.g., by a system administrator) to determine the accuracy of theretail display regulations stored in the electronic storage for thegiven regulating entity and/or for other purposes.

The reminder module may be configured to issue reminders to theretailers and/or the regulating entities related to retail displaymaterials. These reminders may include, for example, certificationreminders, promotional reminders, and/or other reminders.

Certifications by one or more of the regulating entities may expire. Forexample, a certification for the system generally, or for a retailerindividually (or for individual stores associated with the retailer) mayexpire on a specific day, or after a predetermined time period. Thereminder module may be configured to generate reminders of theexpiration to one or more of a system administrator, the retailer,and/or the certifying regulating entity. These reminders may prompt theadministrator of the system, the retailer, and/or the certifyingregulating entity to take action (e.g., recertification) that willresult in the certification not simply expiring.

One or more of the regulating entities may have label regulations thatspecify one or more time periods associated with promotional labelingand sales. By way of example, a period of time that an item may beindicated as “on sale” or having a “reduced price” may be regulated, aperiod of time between “sales” or “price reductions” may be regulated,and/or other periods of time may be regulated. To facilitate compliancewith such regulations, the reminder module may generate reminders to theretailers that have (or have had) promotions on items appraising them oftheir compliance with the appropriate regulations. These reminders maybe transmitted electronically to a computer platform associated with theretailers (e.g., e-mail, text message, voice mail, electronic calendarinvitation, and/or other electronic reminders). The reminder module maydetermine that a given retailer has a promotion regulated by one or moreretail display materials regulations based on retail display materialsrequests and/or regulation requests made to the system by the givenretailer.

These and other objects, features, and characteristics of the presentinvention, as well as the methods of operation and functions of therelated elements of structure and the combination of parts and economiesof manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of thefollowing description and the appended claims with reference to theaccompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification,wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in thevarious figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that thedrawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only andare not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. As usedin the specification and in the claims, the singular form of “a”, “an”,and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictatesotherwise.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system configured to manage compliance with one ormore retail display regulations within a plurality of jurisdictions,according to one or more embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an organization of information related to retaildisplay regulations, in accordance with one or more embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a system configured to manage compliance with one ormore retail display regulations within a plurality of jurisdictions,according to one or more embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 10 configured to manage compliance with oneor more retail display regulations within a plurality of jurisdictions.The system 10 facilitates compliance with local retail displayregulations by maintaining electronic storage of current retail displayregulations throughout the plurality of jurisdictions. System 10implements stored regulations to automatically provide access toappropriate retail display regulations in responses to requests forretail display regulations from retailers that specify a product to belabeled, a jurisdiction within which a retail display materials will bedisplayed, sale information, and/or other information related to retaildisplay materials. In some implementations, system 10 automates thegeneration of retail display materials that conform to retail displayregulations of local jurisdiction(s), thereby reducing requiredman-hours, increasing compliance with local regulations, and/orproviding other enhancements. In some implementations, system 10 is acomputer-implemented system comprising electronic storage 12, one ormore processors 14, and/or other components.

In some implementations, electronic storage 12 comprises electronicstorage media that electronically stores information. The electronicallystorage media of electronic storage 12 may include one or both of systemstorage that is provided integrally (i.e., substantially non-removable)with system 10 and/or removable storage that is removably connectable tosystem 10 via, for example, a port (e.g., a USB port, a firewire port,etc.) or a drive (e.g., a disk drive, etc.). Electronic storage 12 mayinclude one or more of optically readable storage media (e.g., opticaldisks, etc.), magnetically readable storage media (e.g., magnetic tape,magnetic hard drive, floppy drive, etc.), electrical charge-basedstorage media (e.g., EEPROM, RAM, etc.), solid-state storage media(e.g., flash drive, etc.), and/or other electronically readable storagemedia. Electronic storage 12 may store software algorithms, informationdetermined by processor(s) 14, and/or other information that enablessystem 10 to function properly. Electronic storage 12 may be a separatecomponent within system 10, or electronic storage 12 may be providedintegrally in a common device with one or more other components ofsystem 10 (e.g., processor(s) 14).

The information stored to electronic storage 12 may include retaildisplay regulations for retail display materials that are to bedisplayed in retail environments. The retail display regulations mayregulate one or more display parameters of retail display materials. Byway of non-limiting example, a display parameter may include one or moreof a shelf level requirement, a label background color restriction, alabel space allowance, a product description requirement (e.g., font,size, point size, color, and/or other requirements), a retail pricelisting requirement (e.g., text type, font, size, point size, color,and/or other requirements), a unit price listing requirement (e.g., texttype, font, uniformity, rounding and/or calculations, ratio to price,and/or other regulations), a unit of measurement requirement (font,size, weights and measure types, and/or other requirements), aUPC/GTIN/SKU requirement (e.g., placement, font, point size, and/orother requirements), a sale and/or reduced price requirement (e.g.,start and end dates, font, format, size, and/or other requirements), aretail display materials type (e.g., a price label, signage, and/orother types), and/or other parameters.

Retail display regulations may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.As such, at one location, retail display materials may be governed by afirst set of retail display regulations, while at a second locationsretail display materials may be governed by a second set of retaildisplay regulations. The jurisdictions may be associated with one ormore of a town or city, a county, a state or province, a country, and/orother jurisdictions.

In some instances, the jurisdictions may be layered. For example, at agiven location at least one retail display regulation enforced at thegiven location may be enforced by a regulating entity associated with acountry (e.g., the U.S., Mexico, Canada, etc.) in which the givenlocation resides, at least one retail display regulation may be enforcedby a regulating entity associated with state or province within whichthe given location resides, and/or at least one retail displayregulation may be enforced by a regulating entity associated with acounty within which the given location resides.

The retail display regulations stored within electronic storage 12 maybe organized according to jurisdiction. This may include indexing orrelating retail display regulations to jurisdictions and/or indexing orrelating jurisdictions to retail display regulations.

To facilitate access of the relevant retail display regulations for agiven location, the jurisdictions may be organized within electronicstorage 12 according to location. This may include indexing or relatingthe jurisdictions to one or more reference systems for location (e.g.,postal code, mailing address, longitude/latitude, and/or other referencesystems for location), and/or indexing or relating one or more referencesystems for location against the jurisdictions.

One or more of the retail display regulations may be specific to aproduct, a product-type, and/or a product category. By way ofnon-limiting example, one or more of the retail display regulations maybe specific to the product categories specified by the NationalConference on Weights and Measures. In order to facilitate accessingretail display regulations for a given product, product-type, and/orproduct category, the retail display regulations stored withinelectronic storage 12 may be indexed or related to products (and/orproduct-types, and/or product-classes), and/or products (and/orproduct-types, and/or product-classes) may be indexed or related toretail display regulations.

As will be discussed further below, one or more retailers may providelocation information to system 10 to facilitate the automated generationof retail display materials that comply with local retail displayregulations. To facilitate accessing retail display regulations for agiven retailer, one or more locations (e.g., store location(s) for thegiven retailer may be stored within electronic storage 12.

Various jurisdictions may require retailers displaying retail displaymaterials therein to obtain certification for the retail displaymaterials that they are displaying (and/or formats of the retail displaymaterials). These certifications may require renewal, and/orre-inspection at regular intervals. In some implementations, electronicstorage 12 may store information related to certification of retaildisplay materials and/or formats for retail display materials by thejurisdictions. This information may include, for example, indications asto whether individual jurisdictions require certification, acertification renewal interval, an index or relation to one or morespecific retail display regulations for which certification is required,the certification status of a given retailer (or retail store associatedwith the given retailer) with respect to a jurisdiction and/or retaildisplay regulation, and/or other information related to certification.

FIG. 2 provides an exemplary illustration for the organization of atleast some of the information that may be stored within electronicstorage 12. In the diagram shown in FIG. 2, lines between informationtypes indicate a relation or index between connected information types.It will be appreciated that the illustration of relation between thestored information shown in FIG. 2 is not intended to be limiting, andthat other organizations of such information that enable thefunctionality of system 10 discussed below falls within the scope ofthis disclosure.

Returning to FIG. 1, processor(s) 14 are configured to provideinformation processing capabilities in system 10. As such, processor(s)14 may include one or more of a digital processor, an analog processor,a digital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuitdesigned to process information, a state machine, and/or othermechanisms for electronically processing information. Althoughprocessor(s) 14 are shown in FIG. 1 as a single entity, this is forillustrative purposes only. In some implementations, processor(s) 14 mayinclude a plurality of processing units. As is discussed further below,these processing units may be physically located within the same device,or processor(s) 14 may represent processing functionality of a pluralityof devices operating in coordination.

As is shown in FIG. 1, processor(s) 14 may be configured to execute oneor more computer program modules. The one or more computer programmodules may include one or more of an information maintenance module 16,a regulation request reception module 18, a regulation requestprocessing module 20, a retail display materials request module 22, aretail display materials definition module 24, a retail displaymaterials generation module 26, a certification module 28, a remindermodule 30, and/or other modules. The processor(s) 14 may be configuredto execute modules 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and/or 30 by software;hardware; firmware; some combination of software, hardware, and/orfirmware; and/or other mechanisms for configuring processingcapabilities on processor(s) 14.

It should be appreciated that although modules 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26,28, and 30 are illustrated in FIG. 1 as being co-located within a singleprocessing unit, in implementations in which processor(s) 14 includesmultiple processing units, one or more of modules processor(s) 14 may belocated remotely from the other modules. The description of thefunctionality provided by the different modules 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26,28, and/or 30 provided below is for illustrative purposes, and is notintended to be limiting, as any of modules 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28,and/or 30 may provide more or less functionality than is described. Forexample, one or more of modules 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and/or 30may be eliminated, and some or all of its functionality may be providedby other ones of modules 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and/or 30. Asanother example, processor(s) 14 may be configured to execute one ormore additional modules that may perform some or all of thefunctionality attributed below to one of modules 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26,28, and/or 30.

The information maintenance module 16 may be configured to maintainand/or organize the information stored to electronic storage 12. Thismay include organizing the information within electronic storage 12 inthe manner described above, and/or illustrated in FIG. 2. In order tomaintain and/or organize information electronic storage 12, informationmaintenance module 16 may provide an interface through which retaildisplay regulations, jurisdiction information, certificationinformation, location information, store information, productinformation, retailer information, and/or other information stored toelectronic storage 12 can be added, amended, indexed and/or related,and/or otherwise organized or maintained. This interface may enable oneor more users to access the information within electronic storage 12directly to manually organize and/or maintain the information. Theinterface may enable information to be received electronically to system10 (e.g., in a transmission of an electronic file including relevantinformation), and information maintenance module 16 may automaticallyupdate, enter, remove, index or relate, and/or otherwise organize ormaintain the information within electronic storage 12 based on theelectronically received information.

The interface to electronic storage 12 provided by informationmaintenance module 16 may for example, enable a system administratorassociated with an entity providing system 10 to manually organizeand/or maintain the information. As another example, one or more usersassociated with one or more of regulating entities 32 of one or morejurisdictions may access the information within electronic storage 12via information maintenance module 16 to enter regulations, amendregulations, interact with certification information (for individualretailers, for retail display regulations stored within electronicstorage 12, for retail display materials generated by system 10, and/orother types of certifications), and/or otherwise organize and/ormaintain information stored in electronic storage 12. As yet anotherexample, the interface provided by information maintenance module 16 mayenable one or more users associated with one or more of retailers 34 toorganize and/or maintain information stored within electronic storage12. For instance, the user may update, enter, remove, and/or otherwiseinteract with information related to stores associated with one ofretailers 34, information related to locations at which stores of theretailer 34, information related to products sold by the retailer 34,and/or other information related to the retailer 34.

The regulation request reception module 18 may be configured to receiveregulation requests. The regulation requests may request retail displayregulations stored within electronic storage 12. A given regulationrequest may specify which retail display regulations are requesteddirectly, or the given regulation request may specify which retaildisplay regulations are requested indirectly by indicating displaycircumstances associated with a specific set of one or more retaildisplay regulations. By way of example, the given regulation request mayindicate a jurisdiction, a location, a store, a retailer, a product, apromotion (e.g., a “sale” or “price reduction”), a retail displaymaterial type, and/or other circumstances associated with a specific setof retail display regulations. As a more specific (but non-limiting)example, the given regulation request may indicate a requesting aretailer, a relevant store location, and a relevant product.

The regulation request reception module 18 may be configured to receiveregulation requests that are communicated to processor(s) 14electronically (e.g., over a communications network such as the Internetor other networks). In some instances, regulation requests may bereceived by regulation request reception module 18 from other ones of16, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and/or 30. In such instances, these regulationrequests may come as a call for information from one or more of 16, 20,22, 24, 26, 28, and/or 30 being executed within a device that is commonwith regulation request reception module 18. Or, these regulationrequests may be received by regulation request reception module 18 fromone or more of 16, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and/or 30 being executed in adevice that is separate from the device executing regulation requestreception module 18 (e.g., via a communications network, via a dedicatedconnection, and/or via other electronic communications media).

The regulation request processing module 20 may be configured to processreceived regulation requests. Processing received regulation requestsmay include identifying the retail display regulations requested in agiven regulation request, and obtaining the identified retail displayregulations. The retail display regulations may be identified based ondisplay circumstances indicated in the given regulation request. Therequested retail display regulations may be obtained from electronicstorage 12. Upon obtaining the requested retail display regulations,regulation request processing module 20 may provide access to theobtained retail display regulations to the requesting entity. If therequesting entity is a regulating entity associated with one or morejurisdictions, providing access to the obtained retail displayregulations may include electronically transmitting the obtained retaildisplay regulations to a computing platform associated with therequesting entity. If the requesting entity is one of modules 16, 18,22, 24, 26, 28, and/or 30, providing access to the obtained retaildisplay regulations may include enabling the requesting module to accessthe obtained retail display regulations within electronic storage 12, orproviding the obtained retail display regulations to the requestingmodule.

As mentioned above, in some implementations, one of retailers 34 and/orregulating entities 32 may request access to retail display regulationsby issuing a regulation request to regulation request reception module18.

In response to such a regulation request, regulation request processingmodule 20 may provide access to the requested retail display regulationsin a “raw” form that simply enumerates that requested retail displayregulations. However, regulation request processing module 20 mayalternatively, or additionally, provide access to the requested retaildisplay regulations in the form of mock and/or generic retail displaymaterials (or files defining the retail display materials) that conformto the requested regulations. The mock and/or generic retail displaymaterials may be implemented by the retailer 34 and/or regulating entity32 in certification of compliance with retail display regulations. Themock and/or generic retail display materials (or files defining theretail display materials) may include retail display materials that havepreviously been generated and stored within electronic storage 12 asrepresentative of the requested retail display regulations. The mockand/or generic retail display materials (or files defining the retaildisplay materials) may be generated dynamically by regulation requestprocessing module 20 in response to the retail display materials requestfrom the retailer 34 and/or regulating entity 32.

The retail display materials request module 22 may be configured toreceive retail display materials requests. The retail display materialsrequests request generation of one or more retail display materialsfiles that define retail display materials to be displayed in a retailenvironment. The retail display materials requests may specify one ormore display circumstances (e.g., a retailer, one or more stores, one ormore locations, one or more products, one or more promotions, a price, aretail display material type, and/or other display circumstances) inwhich the requested retail display materials will be displayed. Forexample, one or more display circumstances may be specified by one ormore planogram files included in the retail display materials request.The retail display materials request module 22 may receive retaildisplay materials requests from one or more of retailer retailers 34,one or more of regulating entities 32, and/or from other sources.Requests from retailers 34 and/or regulating entities 32 may be receivedby retail display materials request module 22 electronically (e.g., viaa communications network such as the Internet, via a dedicatedconnection, and/or via other communications media).

The retail display materials definition module 24 may be configured togenerate, responsive to retail display materials requests received byretail display materials request module 22, retail display materialsfiles. The generation of retail display materials files in response to agiven retail display materials request may include generating aregulation request to regulation request reception module 18 for retaildisplay regulations corresponding to the display circumstances indicatedin the given retail display materials request. In response to thegenerated regulation request, retail display materials definition module24 may receive access to retail display regulations that correspond tothe display circumstances indicated in the retail display materialsrequest (e.g., from regulation request processing module 20). Based onthe retail display regulations for which access is received, retaildisplay materials definition module 24 may generate the requested retaildisplay materials files for the display circumstances indicated in thegiven retail display materials request. These retail display materialsfiles define retail display materials for the display circumstances thatconform to the received retail display regulations (where appropriate).

As will be appreciated, in some implementations, each of the individualretail display materials files generated by retail display materialsdefinition module 24 may not have to conform to all of the retaildisplay regulations to which retail display materials definition module24 receives access. By way of non-limiting example, a product-specificretail display regulation may be specific to a subset of productsindicated in the retail display materials request. In this example theretail display materials files generated by retail display materialsdefinition module 24 for the subset of products conform to theproduct-specific retail display regulation, but retail display materialsfiles generated for products not in the subset of products may notconform to the product-specific retail display regulation. As another(also non-limiting) example, a retail display materials request from oneof retailers 34 may indicate a plurality of stores located in differentjurisdictions (e.g., a first jurisdiction and a second jurisdiction). Inthis example, retail display materials definition module 24 may receiveaccess to retail display regulations for all of the jurisdictionsindicated in the retail display materials request, but the retaildisplay materials files generated for the individual stores may conformonly to the retail display regulations for the jurisdiction(s) in whichthey reside.

The retail display materials generation module 26 is configured togenerate retail display materials in response to a receipt of a retaildisplay materials request by retail display materials request module 22.The generation of retail display materials may include initiation ofproduction of retail display materials on an output device 36 (e.g., aprinting device). The output device 36 may be operatively linked withretail display materials generation module 26, or production of theretail display materials on output device 36 may be initiated by retaildisplay materials generation module 26 by transmitting instructions forgenerating the retail display materials to a computing platform incontrol of output device 36 (e.g., if output device 36 is associatedwith the requesting retailer 34).

In some implementations, in addition to initiating production of retaildisplay materials on output device 36, retail display materialsgeneration module 26 may provide one or more of the relevant retaildisplay regulations to the regulating entity 32 or retailer 34 thatissued the retail display materials request to retail display materialsrequest module 22. The provision of the relevant retail displayregulations with the initiation of production of the retail displaymaterials may enable the requesting regulating entity 32 and/or retailer34 to ensure that the retail display materials comply with the relevantretail display regulations, that the relevant retail display regulationsare correct and/or current, may facilitate certification of compliancewith retail display regulations, and/or may otherwise facilitate use ofthe retail display materials.

The certification module 28 is configured to manage information relatedto certifications related to retail display regulations. Thesecertifications may include certifications by regulating entities 32 withrespect to retail display regulations stored within electronic storage12 as a whole, retail display materials (and/or retail display materialsfiles defining the same) generated by system 10, and/or othercertifications that are based on system 10 as a whole. Thecertifications may include certifications by regulating entities 32 thatare specific to individual retailers 34, and/or individual storesassociated with individual retailers 34.

As was described above, information maintenance module 16 may enableregulating entities 32 to access, review, enter, edit, and/or otherwiseinteract with retail display regulations stored to electronic storage12. The regulation request processing module 20 may enable regulatingentities 32 to access to retail display regulations stored to electronicstorage 12. Based on access to the retail display regulations achievedby regulating entities 32 via information maintenance module 16 and/orretail display regulation request processing module 20, regulatingentities 32 may certify retail display regulations within electronicstorage 12 and/or retail display materials generated by system 10 on thebasis of the stored retail display regulations.

These certifications may provide the retailers 34 with a degree ofconfidence in the retail display materials defined and/or generated bysystem 10. In some implementations, the certifications may enableretailers 34 to forego their own certification with one or more ofregulating entities 32. The certifications may be stored by electronicstorage 12, and may be provided to retailers 34 upon request. Forexample, the certifications may be provided to retailers 34 along withretail display materials (and/or retail display materials files definingthe same).

In some implementations, a given one of regulating entities 32 mayrequire retailers 34 to individually certify their retail displaymaterials and/or generic formats for the same. In such implementations,retailers 34 and/or the given regulating entity 32 may updatecertifications within electronic storage 12 based on the results of theindividual certifications of the retail display materials and/orformats. These updated certifications may then be used to determine theaccuracy of the retail display regulations stored in electronic storage12 for the given regulating entity 32 and/or for other purposes.

The reminder module 30 may be configured to issue reminders to retailers34 and/or regulating entities 32 related to retail display materialsing.These reminders may include, for example, certification reminders,promotional reminders, and/or other reminders.

Certifications by one or more of regulating entities 32 may expire. Forexample, a certification for system 10 generally, or for one ofretailers 34 individually (or for individual stores associated withretailer 34) may expire on a specific day, or after a predetermined timeperiod. The reminder module 30 may be configured to generate remindersof the expiration to one or more of an administrator of system 10, theretailer 34, and/or the certifying regulating entity 32. These remindersmay prompt the administrator of system 10, the retailer 34, and/or thecertifying regulating entity 32 to take action (e.g., re-certification)that will result in the certification not simply expiring.

One or more of regulating entities 32 may have retail displayregulations that specify one or more time periods associated withpromotional labeling and sales. By way of example, a period of time thatan item may be labeled as “on sale” or having a “reduced price” may beregulated, a period of time between “sales” or “price reductions” may beregulated, and/or other periods of time may be regulated. To facilitatecompliance with such regulations, reminder module 30 may generatereminders to retailers 34 that have (or have had) promotions on itemsappraising them of their compliance with the appropriate regulations.These reminders may be transmitted electronically to a computer platformassociated with the retailers (e.g., e-mail, text message, voice mail,electronic calendar invitation, and/or other electronic reminders). Thereminder module 30 may determine that a given retailer 34 has apromotion regulated by one or more retail display regulations based onretail display materials requests and/or regulation requests made tosystem 10 by the given retailer 34.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary configuration of system 10, inaccordance with some implementations. In the configuration illustratedin FIG. 3, system 10 includes a server 38 and electronic storage 12. Theserver 38 may include a web server, an application server, and/or otherserver functionality. The server 38 may operate in a client/serverrelationship with a first set of client computing platforms 40(illustrated in FIG. 3 as client computing platform 40 a and clientcomputing platform 40 b) and a second set of client computing platforms42. The client computing platforms 40 and/or 42 may be in operativecommunication with server 38 via a network, such at the Internet and/orother networks.

The client computing platforms 40 may be associated with individualretailers (e.g., retailers 34 shown in FIG. 1 and described above). Insome instances, one or more of client computing platforms 40 may beassociated with a single store location (or set of store locations) of aretailer. In some instances, one or more of client computing platforms40 may be associated with a retailer as a whole. The client computingplatforms 42 may be associated with individual regulating entitiescharged with regulating retail display materials (e.g., regulatingentities 32 shown in FIG. 1 and described above).

The server 38 may include one or more processors that are similar to orthe same as processor(s) 14 (shown in FIG. 1 and described above). Assuch, the retailers and/or regulating entities may access and/orinteract with information related to retail display materials stored inelectronic storage 12 via the client computing platforms 40 and 42 inthe manner described above with respect to FIG. 1.

A retailer associated with client computing platform 40 a may generatefor transmission to server 38 a regulation request and/or a retaildisplay materials request. In response to a regulation request, server38 may provide access to the requested retail display regulations onclient computing platform 40 a. This may include transmitting therequested retail display regulations (and/or retail display materialsfiles defining mock or generic price files) to client computing platform40 a. The retailer associated with client computing platform 40 a mayimplement the received information to ensure that the retail displayregulations are current, to seek certification with one or moreregulating entities, and/or for other purposes.

In response to a retail display materials request from client computingplatform 40 a, server 38 may initiate generation of retail displaymaterials corresponding to the retail display materials request onoutput device 36, which is in operative communication with server 38.The retail display materials generated by output device 36 may then beprovided to the retailer associated with client computing platform 40 a.This may include providing the retail display materials to adistribution location for the retailer so that the retailer candistribute the retail display materials to the appropriate stores,providing the retail display materials individual stores associated withthe retailer, or some combination of these. The provision of the retaildisplay materials to the appropriate destination may be automated basedon the received retail display materials request.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the retailer associated with client computingplatform 40 b may have its own one or more output devices 44 configuredto generate retail display materials based on retail display materialsfiles. The one or more output devices 44 may include output devices 44located at distribution locations, from which retail display materialsare distributed by the retailer to individual stores. The one or moreoutput devices 44 may include output devices 44 located at individualstores capable of producing retail display materials for the individualstores. In response to a retail display materials request from clientcomputing platform 40 b, server 38 may generate retail display materialsfiles that define retail display materials corresponding to the retaildisplay materials request to client computing platform 40 b. Thegenerated retail display materials files may then be electronicallytransmitted to client computing platform 40 b for implementation by theretailer to produce the requested retail display materials on outputdevices 44.

The client computing platforms 42 are configured to access informationstored in electronic storage 12 via server 38 to review retail displayregulations stored within electronic storage 12, review certifications,update certifications, and/or otherwise access and/or interact with theinformation stored within electronic storage 12. By way of example,client computing platforms 42 may transmit regulation requests to server38. In response to the regulations requests, server 38 may provideaccess to the requested regulations (and/or mock or generic retaildisplay materials associated with the requested regulations). The clientcomputing platforms 42 may interact with the information stored inelectronic storage 12 to update, enter, and/or remove regulations, aswas discussed above with respect to information maintenance module 16(shown in FIG. 1 and described above).

It will be appreciated that the configuration of system 10 illustratedin FIG. 3 is not intended to be limiting, and that other configurationsare contemplated. For example, in some implementations, one or more ofmodules 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and/or 30 illustrated in FIG. 1 areprovided (in whole or in part) within client computing platforms 40and/or client computing platforms 42, rather than entirely within server38. As another example, electronic storage 12 may include storagelocally at computing platforms associated with retailers (e.g., clientcomputing platforms 40). The local storage may hold retail displayregulations relevant to the individual retailers, and the computingplatforms may access the retail display regulations stored locally togenerate retail display materials, rather than requesting informationstored remotely with server 38. Other configurations are alsocontemplated.

Although the invention has been described in detail for the purpose ofillustration based on what is currently considered to be the mostpractical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that suchdetail is solely for that purpose and that the invention is not limitedto the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to covermodifications and equivalent arrangements that are within the spirit andscope of the appended claims. For example, it is to be understood thatthe present invention contemplates that, to the extent possible, one ormore features of any embodiment can be combined with one or morefeatures of any other embodiment.

1. A system configured to manage compliance with one or more retaildisplay regulations within a plurality of jurisdictions, the systemcomprising: electronic storage configured to store retail displayregulations for retail display materials that are to be displayed in aretail environment, wherein the retail display regulations regulate aplurality of display parameters of retail display materials, and whereinthe retail display regulations include (i) a first set of retail displayregulations that regulate display parameters of retail display materialsdisplayed within a first jurisdiction, and (ii) a second set of retaildisplay regulations that regulate display parameters of retail displaymaterials displayed within a second jurisdiction; and one or moreprocessors in operative communication with the electronic storage, theone or more processors being configured to execute one or more computermodules, the one or more computer modules comprising: a regulationrequest reception module configured to receive regulation requestsrequesting retail display regulations stored by the electronic storage,wherein the regulation requests specify requested retail displayregulations at least by indicating one or more jurisdictions for whichretail display regulations are requested; and a regulation requestprocessing module configured to process received regulation requests byobtaining requested retail display regulations and providing access tothe requested retail display regulations such that (i) responsive to areceived regulation request indicating the first jurisdiction, therequest processing module obtains retail display regulations from thefirst set of retail display regulations and provides access to theobtained retail display regulations, and (h) responsive to a receivedregulation request indicating the second jurisdiction, the requestprocessing module obtains from the electronic storage retail displayregulations from the second set of retail display regulations andprovides access to the obtained retail display regulations.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the regulation request reception module isconfigured to receive regulation requests transmitted electronically tothe one or more processors over a communications network from acomputing platform associated with a retailer, and wherein the requestprocessing module is configured to provide access to the requestedretail display regulations by transmitting the requested retail displayregulations to the computing platform associated with the retailer overthe communications network.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one ormore computer modules further comprise: a retail display materialsrequest module configured to receive a retail display materials requestfor generation of one or more retail display materials files that defineretail display materials to be displayed in a retail environment,wherein the retail display materials requests received by the retaildisplay materials request module specify one or more displayjurisdictions within which the retail display materials defined by oneor more retail display materials files will be displayed; and a retaildisplay materials definition module configured to generate, responsiveto a retail display materials request, one or more retail displaymaterials files that define retail display materials in accordance withthe retail display materials request, wherein generation of the one ormore retail display materials files includes: generating a regulationrequest to the regulation request reception module for retail displayregulations associated with the one or more display jurisdictions;receiving access to retail display regulations associated with the oneor more display jurisdictions from the regulation request processingmodule; and generating one or more retail display materials files thatconform to the accessed retail display regulations.
 4. The system ofclaim 3, wherein the one or more computer modules further comprise: aretail display materials generation module configured to respond to aretail display materials request by either initiating production of theretail display materials defined by the one or more retail displaymaterials files requested by the retail display materials request on aprinting device communicatively linked with the one or more processors,or transmitting the one or more retail display materials files requestedby the retail display materials request to a requesting retailer.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the electronic storage is further configuredto store first certification information related to certification of thefirst set of retail display regulations with the first jurisdiction, andsecond certification information related to certification of the secondset of label information with the second jurisdiction.
 6. The system ofclaim 5, wherein the one or more computer modules further comprise: acertification module configured to manage the first certificationinformation and the second certification information.
 7. The system ofclaim 6, wherein the certification module enables the first jurisdictionto directly control the first certification information, and enables thesecond jurisdiction to directly control the second certificationinformation.
 8. The system of claim 6, wherein the certification moduleis configured to receive certification information from one or moreretailers in the first jurisdiction and from one or more retailers inthe second jurisdiction, to update the first certification informationin the electronic storage based on certification information receivedfrom the one or more retailers in the first jurisdiction, and to updatethe second certification information in the electronic storage based oncertification information received from the one or more retailers in thesecond jurisdiction.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the regulationrequest processing module is configured to process received regulationrequests by obtaining requested retail display regulations and providingaccess to the requested retail display regulations such that (i)responsive to a received regulation request indicating the firstjurisdiction and the second jurisdiction, the request processing moduleobtains retail display regulations from the first set of retail displayregulations and the retail display regulations from the second set ofretail display regulations, and provides access to the obtained retaildisplay regulations.
 10. The system of claim 3, wherein the retaildisplay materials definition module configured such that, responsive toa retail display materials request specifying the first jurisdiction andthe second jurisdiction as display jurisdictions, wherein generation ofthe one or more retail display materials files includes: generating aregulation request to the regulation request reception module for retaildisplay regulations associated with the first jurisdiction and thesecond jurisdiction; receiving access to the first set of retail displayregulations and the second set of retail display regulations from theregulation request processing module; generating a first set of retaildisplay materials files that conform to the first set of retail displayregulations; and generating a second set of retail display materialsfiles that conform to the second set of retail display regulations. 11.The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more retail displayregulations regulate one or more parameters of one or both of pricelabels and/or point of display signage.
 12. A computer-implementedmethod of managing compliance with one or more retail displayregulations within a plurality of jurisdictions, wherein the method isimplemented in a computer system comprising one or more processorsconfigured to execute one or more computer program modules, the methodcomprising: storing, to an electronic storage media accessible to theone or more processors, retail display regulations for retail displaymaterials that are to be displayed in a retail environment, wherein theretail display regulations regulate a plurality of display parameters ofretail display materials, and wherein the retail display regulationsinclude (i) a first set of retail display regulations that regulatedisplay parameters of retail display materials displayed within a firstjurisdiction, and (ii) a second set of retail display regulations thatregulate display parameters of retail display materials displayed withina second jurisdiction; receiving, at the one or more processors, aregulation request requesting retail display regulations stored by theelectronic storage, wherein the regulation request specifies requestedretail display regulations at least by indicating one or morejurisdictions; and executing, on the one or more processors of thecomputer system, one or more computer program modules configured toprocess the received regulation request by obtaining and providingaccess to retail display regulations from the first set of retaildisplay regulations responsive to the received regulation requestindicating the first jurisdiction, and/or by obtaining and providingaccess to retail display regulations from the second set of retaildisplay regulations responsive to the received regulation requestindicating the second jurisdiction.
 13. The method of claim 12, whereinthe regulation request is transmitted electronically to the one or moreprocessors over a communications network from a computing platformassociated with a retailer, and wherein access to the requested retaildisplay regulations is provided by transmitting the requested retaildisplay regulations to the computing platform associated with theretailer over the communications network.
 14. The method of claim 12,further comprising to storing to the electronic storage media firstcertification information related to certification of the first set ofretail display regulations with the first jurisdiction, and secondcertification information related to certification of the second set oflabel information with the second jurisdiction.
 15. The method of claim14, further comprising executing, on the one or more processors of thecomputer system, one or more computer program modules configured toenable the first jurisdiction to directly control the firstcertification information, and to enable the second jurisdiction todirectly control the second certification information.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, further comprising: receiving, at the one or more processorsof the computer system, certification information from one or moreretailers in the first jurisdiction and from one or more retailers inthe second jurisdiction; executing, on the one or more processors of thecomputer system, one or more computer program modules configured toupdate the first certification information in the electronic storagebased on certification information received from the one or moreretailers in the first jurisdiction; and executing, on the one or moreprocessors of the computer system, one or more computer program modulesconfigured to update the second certification information in theelectronic storage based on certification information received from theone or more retailers in the second jurisdiction.
 17. The method ofclaim 12, wherein responsive to the received regulation requestindicating the first jurisdiction and the second jurisdiction,processing the received regulation request comprises obtaining retaildisplay regulations from the first set of retail display regulations andretail display regulations from the second set of retail displayregulations, and providing access to the obtained retail displayregulations.
 18. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more retaildisplay regulations regulate one or both of price labels and/or point ofdisplay signage.
 19. A computer-implemented method of managingcompliance with one or more retail display regulations within aplurality of jurisdictions, wherein the method is implemented in acomputer system comprising one or more processors configured to executeone or more computer program modules, the method comprising: storing, toan electronic storage media accessible to the one or more processors,retail display regulations for retail display materials that are to bedisplayed in a retail environment, wherein the retail displayregulations regulate a plurality of display parameters of retail displaymaterials displayed within a plurality of jurisdictions, and wherein theretail display regulations include (i) a first set of retail displayregulations that regulate display parameters of retail display materialsdisplayed within a first jurisdiction, and (ii) a second set of retaildisplay regulations that regulate display parameters of retail displaymaterials displayed within a second jurisdiction; receiving, at the oneor more processors of the computer system, a retail display materialsrequest for generation of one or more retail display materials filesthat define retail display materials to be displayed in a retailenvironment, wherein the retail display materials request specifies oneor more display jurisdictions within which the retail display materialsdefined by the one or more retail display materials files will bedisplayed; executing, on the one or more processors of the computersystem, one or more computer program modules configured to obtain fromthe electronic storage media associated with the one or more displayjurisdictions; and executing, on the one or more processors of thecomputer system, one or more computer program modules configured togenerate one or more retail display materials files that conform to theaccessed retail display regulations.
 20. The method of claim 19, furthercomprising executing, on the one or more processors of the computersystem, one or more computer program modules configured to initiateproduction of the retail display materials defined by the one or moreretail display materials files requested by the retail display materialsrequest on a printing device communicatively linked with the one or moreprocessors.
 21. The method of claim 19, further comprising executing, onthe one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computerprogram modules configured to transmit the one or more retail displaymaterials files requested by the retail display materials request to arequesting retailer.
 22. The method of claim 19, wherein the one or moreretail display regulations regulate one or both of price labels and/orpoint of display signage.